User Ratings & Reviews

Reviews by davidchollar:

3/5 rDev -10.2%look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

looks a very clear golden yellow. active carbonation and a typical big puffy white head that you would expect, mostly disappears after a couple minutes.
smells pretty good, malty. kind of reminds me of heineken.
tastes ok. nothing special, but fortunately it does not have that cabbage-in-aluminum taste that i've grown to expect from japanese beer, which is good.
overall very average, which is to say better than most japanese macros!

This has come to be my old reliable here in Japan. Definitely at the forefront of the macro line-up, if not one of the best brews you can find just about everywhere. With all that said and done, I'm not implying this beer is amazing or worth seeking out unless you live in Japan. It packs more flavor than the rest of the herd both in maltiness (duh) and even hops. Worth the step up in price from "happoshu", and keeps the drinker far away from the metallic off flavors of the aforementioned genre. It's a shame western countries can't import this beer as it is far more enjoyable than the standard japanese export rice lagers.

Purchased 500ml can at a Japanese grocery store in Shanghai, China. Colour is pale golden yellow. Decent malty aroma. Flavour is by far my favorite of all the macro pilsener I've tried from Asia thus far. However if you know Asian pilsener you know that's not saying much. Here in Shanghai there's lots of other European imports available, so I doubt I will drink it regularly, but it's good enough to keep a few on hand for when my friends and I want something Asian.

Wonderful pale yellow color with big bubbles that disappeared as quickly as they usually do in Japanese lagers. The smell was beautiful, all barley, although it was slightly tinner. The taste, too, was "all malts" with the hops really showing through in the finish. Completely refreshing, totally drinkable. Suntory seeks to create the best beers using the simplest high quality ingredients, and I think they live up to their goal with this one.

poured a medium amber color with large puffy white head. Smell is malty with a nice summer fruitiness also present. taste is crisp with a nice presence of malt noted. Very refreshing finish that it a good thirst quencher with only a mild hoppiness.. An enjoyable beer.

This beer, Suntory's best, in my opinion, greets the viewer with a golden, sparkly color, exceptional for Japanese macrobrews. The malty taste--and it IS malty--complements the hue in a nice way. There's also a faint hoppy taste, rare in Japanese beer. A nice medium head and faint malty smell aren't bad either. This beer does what it sets out to do: create a beer that's malty. Unfortunately, I don't believe this beer is all that popular in Japan and probably not available abroad.

Brilliantly gold color. Light fine head. Light body, light taste. Significantly more bitter than the average Japanese lager. I tend to like beers that have a more intense flavor profile or higer aroma but this is easily the default Japanese lager for me.

Taste: Bready, mildly sweet. Hard to describe, but a little cake-like in taste and feel.

Overall: Beer #4 from my Shanghai trip, from a 330mL can. I'm not sure this is actually a pilsner, not a lot of noble hop character, just malt sweetness. Seemed more like an adjunct lager to me so downgraded the scores just a bit. A decent lager, but a little sweet.

I had this beer at the Keio Plaza lounge in Shinjuku, basically just to try it. It was clear straw colored with a very large foam, I had to be careful pouring so the foam didn't overflow. The smell was malty (go figure) and while it was neutral in strength it was inviting. The taste is also good in that there are no negative flavors, this is just a malty lager that might be hard for me to distinguish from others. Good for what it is.

Drinkability: I actually prefer this beer out of the can, but no matter where it comes from it's a very tasty beer, and one of the best bargains to be found in the world of Japanese macrobrewing - it's all-malt, but the same price as some happoshu. A very nice, easy-sipping or easy-swilling beer, whatever you're in the mood for. Excellent with kimchi.

I bought the beer at the New Friendship store in Dalian, China. Can immediately called out to me. I wasn't disappointed. Very drinkable and a good change to normal local Chinese beer choices. Verdict: Nice quality session brew for a hot summer afternoon.